[HH] The Cotillion (Asteria/Mmur)

[Smerdle]

For the past several months, Mmur had been waiting for something to happen. A social creature by nature, he had never been very good at coming up with things to do on his own, and with Medea and Death silent on the matter of returning to the human world, and the insanity titans too powerful to confront on his own, there was little more to do than sit on his thin bedroll and make things. The soldier had unintentionally amassed quite the collection of mismatched socks, after a kindly ghost had taught him how to knit, but his sparring skills had grown lax as a result.

The last time he had entered the haunted house, one of those twitchy human brats had sawed through his jugular so thoroughly that he had ended up in the Amityville nurse's office. Admittedly, it had been an impressive piece of work, and Cricket was a charming specimen with all of her bugs, but Mmur wasn't gunning for a repeat performance. Today, he was looking to find some young, green trainee who could barely wield his weapon. Just a bit of practice with no unpleasant dissipation.

Mmur wandered the warped and weaving halls with a smile on his face, pushing open doors and looking behind tattered tapestries for a long while before he heard it. Music.

As he rounded the next corner, the horseman was met with a thick, red curtain that he promptly pushed aside. His first impression of the room beyond it was shiny, which was quickly followed by sumptuous and fascinating. Tables lined the walls and were scattered across a wide expanse of plush carpeting that was the same shade as the velvet curtain. The music here was louder, but not overpowering, and even though there was no one present, the room still felt full.

He briskly walked to the center of the marble dance floor, wrapping his arms around his skinny torso and peering up at the chandelier with curiosity-tinged wonder.

Raja

 

[Raja]

Perhaps it was a bad habit to constantly find herself casually strolling in to the haunted house, to find herself so enthralled with the curiosities it provided. But it was a curious place, beyond the fights it always changed, twisted, and found a new way to entice you to come. Such things led to her wanting to know more, perhaps to know what made the place tick. Not that she was the largest intellectual in her clan, but even she could wonder how the world worked. How insanity warped things.

It might always lead to a clue about the isles and that which twisted them even now. Sadly, she'd found little more than hunters, students, and mists to keep her company. Never a revelation that sent her running to spread the word, a word that could bring about their swift reclaiming of their place in the world.

And get her off of that reserve. Tsk.

Alas, she was still in those halls though, no epiphany to her name as she strolled casually around a corner, as if she owned the place. There wasn't much guiding her path until she heard it, a peculiar thing to find in the desolate halls.

Music, a charming melody that was escaping from somewhere down the hall. She lifted a brow casually striding along toward it, following the pleasant sound as she rounded a corner to find herself before a red velvet drape over the door. She brushed it aside as she casually moved into the room, eyes to the ceiling as she was met with a rather bright room, almost painful after the darkness of the halls outside. "Huh-" She hadn't come across something such as this before. It was then, as her gaze fell, that she noticed the figure in the middle of the room, clutching himself as he looked about in his own form of wonder.

Another clansmen? The painfully thing state he was in suggested it? At least the lack of clothing allowed that much to be gleaned in a glance as she paused as a few steps. The room itself was a form of splendor that made her feel as if she'd stepped into the halls belonging to some conquest clansmen. Either way, neither of them truly fit in amongst the vibrant cloth they walked upon and sparkling chandelier above. Peculiar choice for the world to offer. Filled upon on looking at the room for the moment, Asteria's eyes fell back to the stranger in the center as she let out a light laugh. "That's not quite how you dance, my friend." Escaped her, less mocking that amusement as the tune kept playing quietly as she raised her arms to cross them behind her head. "Not that I'm the best at the style this place would suggest either." She added, a smile playing onto her face.

"Weird choice though, right?" She tilted her head to one side to indicate the room. As if the haunted house made choices on it's own though.

Smerdle

 

[Smerdle]

Distracted by the music, he only turned when she laughed, his head first, then his body as he dropped his hands to his sides. To his credit, he did nearly summon his weapon, but when he saw the earmarks of a member of his second favorite clan, Mmur gave the other horseman a happy grin and a wave.

"Oh yes, I know, I know," he said, trotting over to her. "This music is much more..." Though he wasn't wearing anything that remotely resembled a dress, Mmur held his hands out at his sides like he possessed the grandest hoop skirt at the ball. He had never actually seen humans dancing in rooms like these, but he had enough experience watching Halloween students at prom to guess at how it might be. "Yes. Very strange. Though the last time I ventured into the House, it looked a little like Amityville's gymnasium and smelled much worse." He wrinkled his nose. "I think I prefer this, even if fighting here might lull me to sleep."

Remembering his manners, the horseman perked up, offering a hand to shake as the students occasionally did. "I am Mmur, soldier of Famine."

Raja

christmas town classes ate me apologies ;;